The NHL's recent proposal to end the lockout created a lot of buzz and the hope that we might have NHL hockey sooner rather than later. This optimism was based on the 50/50 split of league revenue, close to what most expect the final outcome to be, and that all contracts would be honored with no rollback in salary from the players' reduced share of hockey-related revenue. Let's take a look at the mechanism the owners' proposal uses to cut the players' share of salary without rolling it back: the "Make Whole" Provision.

Negotiations can be tricky, but nuclear war isn't in anyone's interestsPhoto by Sharon Farmer

As the lockout rumbles on and negotiations show few signs of progress, we are all left to wonder how likely it is to cost us the 2012-2013 season. Most seem to believe that the season will start late and be shortened, as was the case for the 2011-2012 NBA season. Is that reasonable? To find out let's look at whether it's in the league's interest to lock the players out for the entire season if it means getting a better deal in negotiations.

With the possible exception of the 2012 Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings, the Pittsburgh Penguins have the strongest outlook, both for the (2012-)2013 season and beyond. The main reasons are obvious - Crosby is signed long term, Malkin and Letang through 2013-2014 and James Neal through the 2015-2016 season. After failing in the Sutter and Parise sweepstakes, and a couple offseason moves to be discussed shortly, GM Ray Shero even has some cap room to play with.

The quality of teammates influences almost every stat in all major sports. This is particularly true of the base stats we tend to use, such as on-ice Corsi or Fenwick rate, because they don't just take something a player has done (score a goal) but also include what his teammates did while he was on the ice. The reason we opt for on-ice stats instead of individual is simple - on-ice stats allow us to measure, albeit noisily, all the contributions a player makes to the thing you are measuring.

How often do you hear an announcer say "that kind of play doesn't show up on the stat sheet, but was very important"? If you're measuring on-ice stats instead of individual stats, and you have a large enough sample, those small plays will show up. The trick is accounting for teammate quality, or at the very least taking it into consideration.